EXIT INTERVIEWS

Voluntary employee exits: One question answered with qualitative feedback

Job-Related Reason for Leaving % of respondents Retirement 1% Better pay 10% Better benefits 4% Lack of training 22% Working conditions Not Applicable Relationship with management 31% Relationship with peers Not Applicable Lack of career opportunities 29% Changing careers 3%

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Positive comments left by voluntary leavers:

“Enjoyed time here, progressed and developed skills; nice culture and lots of focus on the ‘we.’”

“Fantastic team leader, can’t fault . . . has been the best I have ever had but accepted another job with better pay and more career opportunities. I really liked working with my Singaporean colleagues who definitely are interested in the bigger picture.”

“Happy with my manager, given all the support needed. Accounting always able to accommodate my needs. I am leaving for more training, career, and benefits for my family.”

“I am taking a break to care for our newborn baby and plan to be a stay-at-home dad for the rest of this year. I had a great time working in a multicultural organization. So much respect for the very hardworking teams, especially the Singapore team, which sometimes works without breaks. A lot to learn from them!”

“Good time spent with my sales manager learning more about tele sales; however, I am leaving for a better sales incentive plan and less hierarchical style of management.”

“My colleagues here in the USA told me that having a common agenda before meetings will be very helpful. They appreciated knowing what to expect before going in the meetings. I ensured that I always shared the agenda well ahead of meetings, and I received positive feedback for it.”

Less positive comments from voluntary leavers, which primarily reflected themes and comments reported earlier in the survey, were quite specific to individual situations:

“This company seemed to have a very top-down management style in which high-level managers make strategic decisions, and the lower staff implements it, especially in Singapore.”

“They expect us to understand the Singaporean SOP, but we were not trained. I doubt if a final copy of the SOP even exists.”

“I think this company expects employees to work and doesn’t expect us to push back or provide feedback. I wanted my viewpoint considered by the executive team, and it left me frustrated.”

“Issues took too long to get addressed—mentioned to management but not taken on board. No transparency in the department. Difference between how people are treated in the department.”

“Vagueness, and it seemed like it took forever for top leadership to give support to solve complaints. This made me feel unheard, and it seemed like they just wanted to avoid disagreements.”

“I love our Singapore colleagues. However, both units could not figure out a common action tracker. We always insist on synchronous meetings. Why can’t we manage a tracker asynchronously?”

“When I suggested ideas for improvement, it took the task force forever to get new ideas implemented, and it was difficult to speed up this process. I don’t see why we have to go through the Singapore team's management when we can collaborate at a team level?”

“Inconsistent ways of working. Communication needs improvement from top leadership.”

“Some people feel they will never be promoted . . . need more comms between management and team members.”

“I just got the feeling that only older people were going to have a chance at this company and left for more career and professional development opportunities.”

“Things can definitely move faster when it comes to processes. However, the company has a very top-down management style. All the strategic decisions are made in Singapore while we just implement. ”